


If ghosts exist...

by elivan



Category: Tales of the Abyss
Genre: F/F, Post-Canon, talesfemslashweek2017
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-23
Updated: 2017-07-23
Packaged: 2018-12-05 18:42:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11583891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elivan/pseuds/elivan
Summary: Anise doesn't believe in ghosts, if only because she can't fathom how they'd want to stay around in the same rotten place that they died at. If there was anyone who would likely do as after death, it would only be Arietta...





	If ghosts exist...

**Author's Note:**

> For [Tales of Femslash Week](http://talesfemslashweek.tumblr.com/)! Day Seven: Free-For-All!
> 
> ...which means I just went with my other choice for the tragedy prompt. Have fun~~

Anise walks into the depth of the Cheagle Woods, clutching Tokunaga close as the monsters of the woods give her a wide berth. They seem to grudgingly accept her presence as long as she keeps her trips short, but she knows she's unwelcome here.

She doesn't blame them.

It's noon, but the sunlight only barely filters through the tree cover, which seems thicker now than it was the year before. Vines and branches also reach out further into the path than she remembers last time. In the dirt she can only make out the faintest of pawprints -- if they're that at all and not merely a sign of continued erosion. The ligers of these woods have long since left for more favorable hunting grounds, and this path has become hers alone to walk.

Eventually she reaches her destination, the old Liger's den. Surprisingly, even with the passing of so many years, no other monsters have taken up residence for long. Milieu had told her about a wolf pack that came to make their home and left within a week, and ever since Anise has wondered if monsters have their own versions of ghosts stories. Stepping inside the old den, with the wet chill and persistent moldy stench of rot, certainly feels like how she'd imagine a haunted place to feel.

Anise doesn't believe in ghosts, if only because she can't fathom how they'd want to stay around in the same rotten place that they died at. If there was anyone who would likely do as after death, it would only be Arietta.

She makes her way further in, until she's in the space they last fought. There's a break in the wood high above them and more sunlight filters in than she remembers, but it does little to subside the chill and stench. In the center of the clearing is the small stone that she had placed there two years back when she decided some sort of marker was necessary, seemingly left untouched by any human or monster since the last time she came. Instead, the plant life seems to have embraced it, with a small sprout of a vine twirling itself around it. With the lack of all other signs, that seems to be the closest one to acceptance.

Anise moves closer to the stone and gives it her signature cute pose, one that undoubtedly looks silly moves she's so close to adulthood herself. "Heeey, Gloomietta! It's me again! I promised I'd come every year and it's been four now. You know what that means, right~?"

The stone, of course, does not respond. Because it is a rock, a marker for a dead girl who'd probably wouldn't talk to her anyway. Even before they were true enemies, Arietta had hated her anyway. Even if ghosts exist, every year is a useless endeavor and waste of time.

But the thought of leaving Arietta in her own haunted, gloomy hole to wither away all alone is enough to have kept Anise going each and every since -- and enough to keep her going now.

"It means that you're officially an adult now!" Anise laughs, and the hollow sound reverberates through the den. "You can do a lot more now than you could last year. You can gamble and earn lots of gald, you can drink lots of fruity cocktails and get drunk...You can even get married to, if you wanted to."

Anise waits a few moments, long enough to give the Arietta that isn't here time to huff and shout about how she ruined everything and what an awful murderer she was…

"You can be really ungrateful, you know," she says, wanting to sound huffy herself but unable to muster the energy to yell at a silent dead girl -- a silent dead _woman_ now -- who's more of a figment of her imagination than anything else. "Well, I got you a birthday present anyway. It's late, but I figured you wouldn't care too much.

She sets Tokunaga down on the grass, and opens the back of the toy, reaching inside to pull out a flask of whisky. Ever since the Planet Storm was stopped, the source of fonons have been limited and Tokunaga hasn't worked correctly since...But he's become _very_ handy in helping her sneak things like these.

"I'll admit I had a small taste of it myself, just to see if it was good. It's stronger than I thought it would be, but since you're an adult I think you can handle it." Anise opens the flask and considers pouring it all over the stone, but the little sprout at the base stays her hand.

Instead she holds the open flash close to the top of the stone and carefully tips it so that just one drop falls out. "There! Just enough to taste it." Then she closes the flask and sets it so that it leans against the stone. "You can have the rest to drink later. I got my own personal supply back home."

Anise imagines Arietta would make a disgusted noise and say the drink is terrible and awful...but that's just the Arietta she remembers from their last battle and Anise has to remind herself that they're both older now.

She closes her eyes and imagines Arietta as a young woman, still short and scrawny like she'd probably always be, but with a more refined grace in her movements. She imagines an older Arietta taking a swig of the whisky and making a scrunched up face and make some comment about how gross it is...but she would be grown now and they would have been able to be friends at this point, so it would all be a joke before Arietta takes another swig and Anise would huff at her for drinking it too fast.

Maybe that's how it could have been.

"Or…" Anise thinks out loud, opening her eyes to see that's nothing changed and that's Arietta's still dead and will always be dead and that fact will never change. "Or maybe I'm just talking to some dumb rock."

Anise closes up Tokunaga and begins to head out. "See you next year, Gloomietta." Then she waits a few moments, like she has every year. The first two years she waited just in case there was some response, some unexplained breeze or rustling...just in case ghosts are real.

Now she knows there's no ghost, no ethereal message from some great beyond. But she waits, just in case she's wrong…

When everything remains still and Anise knows she's still right, she turns to leave.


End file.
